Machinery for packing cigarettes



Sconmo unis Sept. 12, 1933.

w. E. MOLINS ET AL,

MACHINERY FOR PACKING CIGARETTES Filed May 27, 1931 4. Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS weak/2%.;

Se t. 12, 1933. wfE. MOLINS ETAL MACHINERY FOR PACKING CIGARETTES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 27, 1931 l n I l a I I INVENTORS p 1933- w. E. MOLINS ET AL 1,926,493

MACHINERY FOR PACKING CIGARETTES Filed May 27, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR P 1933' w. E. MOLINS ET AL 1,926,493

MACHINERY FOR PACKING CIGARETTES Filed May 27, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS Map/(5% WWMyM Patented Sep h 12; 1933 7 Lew I IMACHINERY'YEORIPACKINGL o G nn T s I" 'wal ten Everett Moiins and-John Walker it i mers -London', England Application May 27; 1931', Serial No. 540,459,;

Iating toi machinery for packing cigarettes, and

refers more particularly to a machine adapted to pack cigarettes in a cartonof thetypewherein twopockets, each adapted to holda single row of cigarettes, with the cigarettres disposed "at right angles to the month thereof, arehingedtogether opened out into line-withtheir open ends directed i 19 towards one another and extends across the open ends-of the two' pockets when one isfoldedf upon theothei".

a The present, invention comprises a cigarette v packing machine adapted to envelop cigarettesvin a carton ofjthe type referred to, which comprises incombination ajhlankfeeding mechanism opera ible to feeda succession of blanks toa main conveyorhavihg pnsher pieeesvvhieh move each calf: ton blank into'aflpgsition adjacentto cigarette. Ego feeding meehanism; operable to feed twobatches of cigarettes onto the said carton with. theIaXes thereof" disposed transverse tof the direction of movement of thecart'on and 'a second conveyor movable in a direction at right anglestoflthe ;-;z5pnv 0r operable toree -give each loaded carton and convey the same thronghlfolding mechanism.

inventionywill be more rpartijoularly described withreferenoe to theaccompanyingdravv- T; Fign l is a plan vievvof the wholeniachine. 1 1 Fig. 2 is a front elevation oiFig. 1 inthe direc- 1 Figl 5 is a cross seetion of Fig i taken inldireo- Fig Bis across section 65mg". onlin'e' Db;

x Fig. '7 isa section of half the bedof the machine Fig, 8 is a cross seetioh oi the bednf niachine Fig; 9 is a similar v Figs. 10 0014 areviews of, the packet various stages, and will'lbe described in ln ioredetail-hereinafter.

B eferring to the rawi gs, the, cigarettes are fed-fro'mfa hqpprjl having two distinct sets of i vane openings 2gand 3 separated by 'a spaci'ng inemher and are removed 'fi.0m the vane open: irig's b'y a bar 4 carriedon the continuous ic onve yor5..j

The cigarettes are earried across a sl pboit 6 j mounted aboveth'e na chineibed "7, each batch Fig. '4 is a section of a portion Rig 1 on the This invention is for improvernents in or re i offcigarettesde1iveredthereto by the, 521 4 ush s i ing the preceding'batchforwards. The support iss'o shaped thatjthe cigarettes of thejset of vane openings 3 'wi11 be delivered to a point beyond the centre line of anintermittent chain conveyor 83 which carriesthe carton blanks through 'this portion of the machine hilst the cigarettes of theother vaneopening 2 willbe delivered on the" f 1 near side of the centrelineofthefeonveyor. The" conveyors is driven by an intermittent gear con'- 1 sisting of a contin uonsly rotating crankdisc 9i havinga connecting rod 10 attachedther'eto; z,j"lhe conneeting rodlo'has a projection 11 on a the rear side thereofwhiche'engages'with slots in adisc 12. to'whichthe sprocket wheelfdrivin g the conveyorffi is fixed, As the crank disc 9 f'revo1ves,the projection 11 passes out of the slot f L towards the centre of the disc and. enters the next suceeeding slot on itsreturnstroke the swingof the connecting rod movingthe disc 12,175 v the required QIIIOUIIltF ,Two patches of cigarettes are i simultaneoi slyl preceding carton on thefar side of the conv yori 'Afterthe conveyor has moved a further stage'lBfi tWQ' more vbatches ofgcigare'ttes are deposited; bne

of which fallsfonj the portion. 14 of theicarton'g which hasprevio siy re cejived'a bate-hon the por i tion l'3iasj 1'nentio ij d above; whilstthe'othei falls 7 on the portion 13jofthe next succeeding blankeo blank passes on from the filling position withltwo ihatjchesof cigarettes. n

The cartonblanks are fed frorn a stackfl iby any desired feeding appar'zttus andideliveredto a pair of rollers 16 ja'rrang'difi score the blanks on I the lines about which the folding is to take place.

i The seoredblank is then noved onwards byrollers 17 andidep'ositejd ahove aidie 18, Fig'. 5, and a p plunger 19 descends and presses the blankinto' the die so that the narrow folds "of the lo'nger sides {of the blank 'arebentupfi j ig. '5 shows the forming: arrangement in s'e'c-. tion from whichfit willibe seen that a plate 20in thelootto'm' ofjthedie is arranged to grip the blank the plungerfrnoves downwards in order tose- .cure the'(f orreetv folding of theibla nk alon (the 'seoredlines, the-parts 19 and ZO beingioper'atedby cains-as, shown;

.Tlie blank, isthe n fedlengthwisebyo seriesof tently' along the bed 7 and past the filling position where itreceives the two batches of cigarettes in the manner previously described; When the. blanks are provided with fingers 23 as shown in Fig. 10, the fingers are preferably given a concave cross section by passing them;betweenforming gages.

. rollers 24 (Fig. 4) having a series of convex pro -jections and concave depressions, respectively.

When the fingers are treated in this manner each finger appears curved when viewed from the outer end, the direction and extent of curvature, being preferably such as to conform substantially'to the curvature of the cigarettewhich the 'fi'ngerv en- Where it desired to have a foil liner in the finis'hed carton,the foil is preferably appliedto thecarton blank in the following manner. The foil is fed from a reel 25 mounted above .the nia- 25- chine, the'reel being of a width equal to the length -of ',the foil strip. The foil is feddownwardly by a pair. of rollers26 adaptedjto emboss a design on -..the sameand from these rollers it passes to another'p'air of rollers-'27. whichpull the foil, from the embossing rollers.

'Theiweb of foil next passesinto a cutting mechanisrnfcomp'risinga rotary knife 28 and a soft v.co. operating roller 29 against which the knife acts, in which a strip ofIfoil of the required width is severed, and at the instant of cuttingthe lead- 7 ing edge of the foil is seized by a rotary suction device 30' which carries the foil downwards and deposits itfiat upon the carton blank, the suction the instant the foil comes to rest on the blank. V v V I After the foil has been applied to the blank, the intermittent conveyor moves on another stage andcomes torest with'apair of blanks in line with'the' twosets of vane openin'gsof the cigarette feed and two batches of cigarettes are deposited upon two successive blanks in the mannerpreviously described, after which the conveyor moves on a'stage at a time.

A gripping device 31, Fig.v 6,'operated by a cam (notshown) is arranged to hold thefoil in posi- -ltionon the blank by pressing the latter against a projection 31?. extending. downwardly from the plate portion of the member '6 which overlies the'bed .7 until the. first batch of I cigarettes has been deposited thereon. This may be conveni ently effected by periodically raisingthe'gripping.

device or plunger 31 which extends through-the bed 7 of the machinesto pres'sthe blank and foil against the projection 31?. 4

, During the movement which followsflthe cigarette feeding, the cover members 32 and 33 are folded over by folding devicesjhereinafter described, and the folded blank showninjFig, 14'

is removed by a reciprocating-claw 34 into, the path of a. conveyor 35, this conveyor being of the which travels at right anglesjo thepath of the intermittent conveyor ,8.

v In some instances it is desirable tore inforce the hinge member .of the double pocket carton, and this 'ispreferably carried out by feeding a l) strip of material36g of approximately the same size as the hinge member to the flatcarton blank. Mechanism for performing this operation is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and. comprises a magazine strips are carrieddown the guide in succession rigid'therewith, and operated by the cam mech- .anism 46 and .they are subsequently pressed heavily'on to the blank at the next stationary presser bar (not shown)-- 1 In order to-bend these spring fingers over they r are first bent upwards bya cam operatedpress'er 47 (Fig. 7), after whichtheyare turned down o nto the faceof the blank by a folder 48 to the Thefingers are kept in contact with the blank whilst-the strip of foil is app lied to the blank. The strip islaid on the blank with its extremities and after the cigarettes havbeen placed on the machine, lie in close proximity to the upper surfaces'of the cigarettes to prevent the latter from .becoming displaced.

s 7 :between themla'nd the blank. usual chain type carrying pusher pieces 35 3'7 from which the strips36 are fed by an oscillating needle pad 38 to rollers 39 which deliver the strips in turn to an inclined guide 40. The

by the pusher pieces "41 of a conveyor'42, and during this movement receive gum on their undersides" from a, roller 43 receiving gum from a bath 441 It 'will be understood that in order to avoid the adhesion of the strips to the in-' clined guide 40, the roller 43 applies the adhesive .to points spaced lengthwise of the strip only and 1 the guidelO is ribbed or, otherwise formed to engage with those portions of the striponly which are not supplied with adhesive, this being common-practice in the art to which this invention relates. -Thestrips are guided into position on ;the stationary blanks by an oscillating guide 45 pivoted at 45 and including a cam follower 45 position of the conveyor by a vertically moving In the machine illustrated the carton blank has a series of fingers23 at each endwhich are bent over towards J the surface of the flaps 32 and-33 for the purpose of retaining the :foil in positionand also preventing the cigarettes from moving aboutwhen' the carton is in use.

pos tion shown in Fig.,11. no

on top of the plates which pressfthe fingers down .blank as shown in Figs. "12 and 131espectively,

theblank reaches the position at F-F, Fig. 1.

Two similar cam operated pressers 49, Fig.3,

,raise the'panels 32 and 33 from the horizontal to angle shown, bending them about small tn-1 angular folders 49 to properly shape the end of the pockets, the folders 49% being preferably secured to the bed. 7, of the machine at points spaced laterally of the path of the blank, these folders extending inwardly ov'erfthe blankand having forwardly directed-fingers overlying the blank adjacent the cam operated pressers, 49

--as shown in Figure l of the drawings, after which folders 50 fold down these panels on to the sinface'of the cigarettes," thus producing a partlyfolded carton as shown in Fig. 14'. It will beob-a served from Figure 8 of thedrawingsthat flat plates '49 of spring steel, which may be secured to suitable brackets M overlying the bed of the During the folding over of the'pan els as shown in Fig. ,9, theyspring fingers 23'are 'guidedinto Lcontac'twith. the panels 32 and 33 by tapering guides 51, shown in Figs. 1 and 9, respectively; as

these fingersten'd to spring away. from the panels and would injure the cigarettes unless positively guided into place. f

Thecarton is thenpractically finished except ,thatthe ,fiaps 52, Fig. 1,4, have to be folded down into contact with the Corresponding flaps 53.

After the carton shown in Fig. 14 is delivered into the path of the conveyor by the claw 34 it is carried along between guides 54 and the side folds 52 have gum applied thereto by gum rollers 54 rotating in a gum bath 55, Fig. 3, after which the folds are bent down by folders 56 on to the side folds 53 of the lower members of the carton and the carton is carried into a heater box 5 in which the gum is dried.

The heater consists of a Vertical box 5'? in which the cartons are raised by a reciprocating platform 58. When the. cartons reach the top.

of the heater the gum is quite dry and they are carried by a conveyor into a. foldingdevice in and means for folding a portion of the carton. over the liner deposited thereon to'retain the.

latter in position.

2. In a machine for packing cigarettes in car- I tons, the combination with means for feeding a series of cartons through a predeterminedpath, of means located adjacent the saidpath for depositing a liner on each carton, means operable in timed relation to said first named means for conveying a batch for cigarettes transversely of said first named path and depositing the same on the liner, and means for folding a portion of the carton over the liner depositedthereonto-retain the latter in position.

3. In a machine for packing cigarettes in cartons of the double pocket type, the combination with means for feeding a series of cartons through a predetermined path with the pockets of each carton aligned transversely of the path, of

means adjacent 'thesaid path for depositing; a linervon each carton across both pockets, and

means operable in timed relation to said first means for depositing a separate'batch of cigarettes in each pocket on the liner, and. means forfolding a portion of the carton over each end of the liner to retain the latter in position and onthe folded portions of the carton.

4. In a machine for packing cigarettes in cartons of the double pockettype, the combination with means for feeding a series of cartons through a predetermined path with the pockets of each carton aligned transversely of the path,

- of means adjacent the said path for depositing a liner on each carton and across both pockets,

and means operable in timed relation to said first means for feeding separatebatches of cigarettes transversely of said path-with the axes of the cigarettes extending in the direction of feeding movement thereof; and depositing the same in the carton'pockets and on the liner,

j 5. In a machine for packing cigarettes in car tons, the combination with means for feeding a series of cartons through a predetermined path, of means located adjacent the saidpath for depositing a liner on each carton, means operable .in timed relation to, said first named means for depositing a batch of cigarettes on the liner, and means for momentarily gripping the blank and the liner together to prevent displacement of the latter while the cigarettes are being deposited.

' I WALTER EVERETT MOLINS...

' 1 JOHN WALKER CHALMERS. 

